The Ultimate Whiskey Car Quiz

So, you think you know how rural southern hell-raisers went from being outlaws to founding one of the fastest growing sports in the country? While you may know that NASCAR has its roots in bootlegging, the true history of whiskey cars weaves together strands from history, economics, culture and technology. It's a lot more than just souped up motors and mason jars of moonshine. Test your knowledge of how whiskey cars worked.

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Question 1 of 20

Unlike a whiskey car, we're going to start slowly. What region of the country is most associated with whiskey cars?

The southwest

The south

California has its hot rods and low riders, but the south has always been the home of whiskey cars.

The Detroit area

Question 2 of 20

What historical and economic factors led to the rise of bootlegging across the south?

Prohibition, dry towns and counties, the Great Depression

A combination of prohibition, dry towns and counties and an economy that recovered slowly from the Depression led to bootlegging as a viable work option for many southerners.

The federal income tax and low gas prices

Prohibition and World War II

Question 3 of 20

Even when prohibition ended and alcohol sales were legal, what crime were many bootleggers guilty of?

Selling alcohol to minors

Violating prohibition

Tax evasion

Taxes cut into profits, so bootleggers operated on the down low to avoid paying them -- making many of them guilty of tax evasion.

Question 4 of 20

What did many whiskey car drivers and bootleggers call federal agents?

Pigs

Narcs

Revenuers

Because federal agents tried to get bootleggers to pay taxes on their sales, they were called revenuers, since they wanted to divert the bootleggers' profits to the Internal Revenue Service.

Question 5 of 20

Many whiskey car drivers were as young as 14. How did kids that young know how to handle a car?

Farm work prepared them for driving

During the 1920s, '30s and '40s, making ends meet was a family affair. As a result, many young kids knew how to drive and operate farm equipment.

The driving age wasn't raised to 16 until 1965

From watching movies

Question 6 of 20

What was one of the favored models for whiskey cars?

A Cadillac ambulance

A Packard

A Ford Coupe

While many types of cars pulled whiskey car duty, the iconic bootlegger's car is a Ford coupe.

Question 7 of 20

What kind of engine did bootleggers like to put in their cars?

A Cadillac ambulance engine

Since moonshiners liked to put the biggest engine they could get into their cars, many would seek out engines from Cadillac ambulances.

A Chevrolet 350 engine

A Dodge HEMI engine

Question 8 of 20

How did whiskey car owners and drivers get more power from their cars?

Nitrous

Superchargers, boring and stroking

When you're outrunning the revenuers, speed and power are everything. That's why many whiskey cars had supercharged engines that were bored and stroked out to get every last drop of power.

High-octane fuel

Question 9 of 20

How did whiskey car drivers modify their cars so cops they passed wouldn't know they were carrying a load of moonshine?

Upgraded shocks

A sagging suspension is a sure sign of a car with a heavy load, so whiskey cars had beefed up shocks that wouldn't betray the heavy jars of liquor they were carrying.

All-terrain tires

Extra brake lights

Question 10 of 20

What whiskey car modification could trick a revenuer chasing a bootlegger into taking a turn too fast and losing control?

Bigger shocks

A supercharged engine

Disconnected brake lights

Some whiskey cars had switches that would disconnect the brake lights. Cops wouldn't see the car they were chasing brake for a turn, and as a result, they'd take the turn too fast and go off the road -- leaving the whiskey car free to make its deliveries.

Question 11 of 20

What was one of the main advantages whiskey car drivers had over the revenuers who chased them?

They knew the local roads

While revenuers were often from other parts of the country, whiskey car drivers tended to be from the area they worked in. Their knowledge of local roads helped them keep ahead of the law.

They didn't have to obey the speed limit

They were carrying heavy loads

Question 12 of 20

What's a bootlegger's turn?

When it's that driver's week to make deliveries

A tight turn that heads the car in the opposite direction

A bootlegger's turn is heading at a high-speed in one direction before executing a tight turn and speeding off in the opposite direction. It's sometimes called a J turn because the tracks a car leaves look like a letter J.

Turning into the bushes and hiding

Question 13 of 20

If a bootlegger got pulled over, how did he hide his cargo if the police searched his car?

By dumping it while being chased

Hidden compartments and fake panels

While it was hard to catch a whiskey car, it did happen. To hide their cargo during searches, bootleggers used fake panels and hidden compartments in the car.

By carrying it in Coke bottles

Question 14 of 20

How did Junior Johnson deal with road blocks?

He used lights and sirens

Junior Johnson brags that to get around road blocks set up to catch bootleggers, he put lights and sirens on his car. Thinking he was a police officer, other cops would move the road blocks for him.

He avoided them by cutting across farms and fields

He'd jump them, like in "The Dukes of Hazzard"

Question 15 of 20

What global event contributed to the end of the golden age of whiskey cars?

The end of prohibition

The sinking of the Lusitania

World War II

World War II drew many young men who had been involved in whiskey cars into the armed forces.

Question 16 of 20

Why were small southern towns the first hotbeds of car racing?

They had few other entertainment options, plenty of space, lots of fast cars and drivers

A lack of other entertainment options, the availability of fast cars, skilled drivers and open fields lead to car racing getting its start in small southern towns.

That's how NSACAR planned it

Because people enjoyed seeing the same cars they drove being raced

Question 17 of 20

Where and when was NASCAR formally organized?

Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1948

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) was founded in Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1948.

Atlanta, Ga., in 1946

Montgomery, Ala., in 1952

Question 18 of 20

What didn't many whiskey car drivers like about NASCAR racing?

Race cars could be slower than whiskey cars

Because NASCAR is based around racing stock cars, there were strict limits on the modifications that could be made on race cars. As a result, some were slower than whiskey cars -- which didn't have to follow any rules. That made some drivers unhappy.

Drinking was not allowed

Racing on an oval track instead of the road

Question 19 of 20

Why did NASCAR organizers want their race cars to be close to stock?

It was cheaper

The car companies like it that way

To build a fan base on brand loyalty

NASCAR wanted to build a fan base by letting people identify with the drivers who drove the same cars they did.

Question 20 of 20

What other popular sport developed largely from a criminal activity?

Football

Baseball

None

No other mainstream sport has the colorful back story that NASCAR has.